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by StoriwrYNos



Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Adam Parrish Loves Ronan Lynch, Alternate Universe - Future, Alternate Universe- No Supernatural, Angst, Domestic, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, Future Fic, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, Past Child Abuse, Protective Ronan Lynch, Ronan Lynch Loves Adam Parrish, Soft Ronan Lynch/Adam Parrish
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-07
Updated: 2021-02-07
Packaged: 2021-03-13 03:41:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,633
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29271906
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StoriwrYNos/pseuds/StoriwrYNos
Summary: Adam and Ronan met when they were older and both living in the city with Adam working as a doctor and full time parent to his teo youmger brothers who he took with him when he left Henrietta. Here, Ronan starts to untagle the mystery of the man he has fallen in love with.
Relationships: Ronan Lynch/Adam Parrish
Comments: 2
Kudos: 45





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**Author's Note:**

> I was going to try writing this as a longer fic, but I don't think I'm good enough at planning for that so I thought I would just post it as it is so far. It is a headcanon that I have where Adam has two brothers and took them with him when he left Henrietta. In the fic, he is a doctor and I'm not sure how he met Ronan yet (potential meet cute?) but they met when they were both older and Adam already had his job as a doctor. This fic takes place when they are pretty much comfortable in their relationship, but Adam hasn't really told Ronan much about his past yet. 
> 
> Anyway, sorry if this seems like an incomplete fic, I guess it sort of is but I wanted to upload it because I felt like I was done writing this particular section so here it is. 
> 
> Please be aware that there are veiled references to canonic child abuse in the fic.

“Are you going to get mad at Adam when he comes back?” Ronan and Kieran had been lying in companiable silence for about twenty minutes when a little voice reached Ronan’s ears. Slowly, he shifted his position so that he could look down at the little boy in his arms. For his part, Kieran’s blue eyes were gazing at Ronan’s filled with a worry that he must have stolen from Adam when they kissed goodbye that morning. 

“No, sweetie. I’m not going to get mad.” Something in Ronan ached to ask Kieran why he thought Ronan might get mad. It felt like the start of the trail which might lead to the solving of the riddle that was Adam Parrish. But Ronan couldn’t. He couldn’t offer a boy who clearly needed certainties his own greedy questions. He couldn’t go behind Adam’s back and ask questions of his younger brother that he was too afraid to ask Adam himself. 

At his words, Kieran nodded softly to himself before he started chewing his lip in another action that mirrored his brother’s. 

“Dad used to get mad.” He finally offered, bunching Ronan’s black shirt in his small fists. This was a tension that Ronan had never seen in the young boy before. It was a tension that sometimes hovered on Josh’s brow and was permanently etched on Adam’s forehead. It seemed it had been inherited by the youngest Parrish too. “He would make Adam go to work, but then when he got back, he would get mad. It wasn’t fair.” 

Now, tears were welling in Kieran’s eyes and Ronan couldn’t stop himself from scooping up the little boy and holding him tight in his arms. If his action was partly to stop Kieran from seeing the mixture of anger and sadness that he could feel slipping onto his face like a familiar mask, then so be it. 

Ronan had known for a long time that Adam didn’t have a relationship with his father. He also knew that despite having a father that only lived a couple of miles away from them, Josh and Kieran idolised Adam and were much happier living here with him than the prospect of living with their biological parents. This knowledge didn’t mean that having a small child crying about how his father had treated his brother, especially when Ronan knew that said brother deserved to be worshipped like a deity, hurt any less. 

“It sounds really unfair bud.” How were you meant to deal with this situation? Ronan didn’t know, so instead he tried to think about the comfort that he had appreciated after his father had died. Or at least, the comfort that he had come to appreciate after the fact. And it was this, an acknowledgement that you were hurting and that you had earned that hurt. Gently, he ran his fingers through Kieran’s golden curls and shushed him, whispers in his ear that he hoped offered solace. 

Hours later, after Kieran had cried himself out, Ronan had laid him down to bed, Josh barrelled into the house with all of the grace of a rolling thunderstorm. With obnoxiously large headphones covering his ears, he offered Ronan a curt nod before heading to his room without a word. Unable to help himself, Ronan had a small chuckle from where he was preparing pasta in the kitchen as he marvelled at how much Josh was like a younger version of him. 

A few minutes later, the door opened again, this time with a quiet that could only belong to Adam. Glancing over his shoulder, Ronan couldn’t help but watch as Adam slipped off his shoes before unzipping his coat and hanging it up meticulously with the rest of his and his brothers’ outerwear. There was something so graceful in Adam’s movements that Ronan couldn’t help but marvel every time he looked at him. Still, today especially, he couldn’t help but feel a twist in his gut as he considered when or more likely, why, Adam had learned to dance so softly around these daily chores. 

Once he had put on the slippers that he kept next to the door, Adam walked over to the kitchen with a tired smile which Ronan was happy to see stretched to his eyes. When had he started checking? He wasn’t sure, but he knew that now, he didn’t take Adam’s lips as gospel. With Parrish, it was all in the eyes. 

“Has anyone ever told you that you make a gorgeous house husband?” Even though Adam was teasing, Ronan’s breath hitched a little on the way out of his body. For all that he paid attention to Adam’s movements, it shocked him a little every time he got confirmation that Adam too, was aware of him. Aware of the space that he took up in the world. That Adam liked it. 

“All the time.” He offered back, cocky smile dancing on his lips, eyebrow quirking to show Adam that he would not be fazed. Of course, it was a lie: Adam could faze Ronan with a blink of his golden eyelashes or a tilt of his head, but Adam didn’t need to know that. Not yet anyway. 

With a laugh, Adam ran a hand through his hair, missing the gentle curl that always fell across his forehead because of course it did. Then, he took a deep breath and steepled his hands together on the island countertop in front of him, where he had taken a seat on one of the stools. 

“How are the boys?” The seriousness that always accompanied discussion of his brother’s painted Adam’s face as he watched Ronan pouring pasta into a colander in the sink. 

“The ray of sunshine came through earlier and didn’t say a word.” He teased gently and was happy to see that he had made Adam laugh. For some reason, Josh’s moodiness had always seemed to please Adam and Ronan hadn’t understood why. Maybe he did a little more now, he thought. After all, from what Kieran had said, Adam never got the opportunity to be a hormonal teenager. An angry youth was not a luxury that everyone could afford it would seem. 

“Kieran got a bit upset earlier though.” Here, Ronan moved away from the sink to lean up against the counter opposite Adam. Part of him didn’t want the boys, especially Josh, hearing them talking. Another part of him wanted, needed to be near Adam while they had this conversation. Needed to offer comfort in the form of his presence if nothing else. 

Immediately, Adam’s hackles were raised, and Ronan watched as his back straightened on the chair from the relaxed pose he had been adopting earlier. Ronan hated doing this to him, hated adding a load to shoulders that already seemed to carry the world. But Adam would never forgive him if he kept Kieran’s fears to himself. So, he kept going. 

“He asked if I was going to be mad when you got back because your dad used to get mad.” If Ronan thought that Adam had tensed before, then he had been wrong. The mention of the patriarch of the Parrish family seemed to send a jolt of electricity through his body, making his spine ramrod straight. His hands on the island turned white. 

“Did he say he got mad at him.” So many pronouns. More pronouns than necessary. More pronouns than Adam would ever normally use in a sentence. Unless he couldn’t physically bring himself to say the noun. Couldn’t bear to let the word pass through his lips. 

“No.” Ronan hastened to reassure him knowing that this was the answer that Adam wanted. This was the answer that Adam needed and for once Ronan could give it to him. “No, he said that your dad used to get mad at you when you didn’t work and then, when you did go to work, he would get mad when you got back.” 

As Ronan spoke, Adam nodded gently before breathing out again heavily. Lines that had not creased his forehead when he arrived home had reappeared, and Ronan ached to reach across the space between them and smooth them out. Adam didn’t need that right now, though, and right now, what Adam needed was key. 

“I’ll talk to him later.” When Adam spoke, it was almost to himself. Following his gut instinct, Ronan turned away and went back to stirring the pasta sauce on the stove. For all that he wanted to be there for Adam, he knew from experience that sometimes comfort came in the form of knowing when someone needed some alone time. 

Adam sat quiet and unmoving until Ronan had almost finished making their meal. Then, still unspeaking, he got up and laid the table placing plates and cutlery down on the wooden surface of the dining table with barely a clink. 

As Ronan started dishing up, Adam disappeared into the back of the apartment to fetch his brothers. Seconds later, Josh appeared miraculously headphoneless. Unlike Adam, when Josh arrived everyone knew about it. Stomping footsteps carried through the kitchen and his chair was scraped along the floor as he plonked himself down at the table. Immediately, his fork was in his hands and tapping against his plate in some rhythm inside his head that Ronan couldn’t hear. With surprise, Ronan felt his heart swell at how Adam had somehow managed to instil Josh with the knowledge that he had a right to be heard. 

Moments later, Parrish the elder and Parrish the younger came through into the open plan living space holding hands. Kieran’s eyes were blurry from sleep and Adam seemed a little shaky, but Ronan offered them both a smile before taking his place at the table, hoping it was what they needed.


End file.
